So with the end to the Penguins season with their dissapointing game 7 performance, it is time to start talking revamping the team for next year and what moves they make in the offseason. So if you are Ray Shero, what do you do? Here is what you have to work with:

Next thing I do? Take a look at the farm system. Tangradi is our top prospect for a reason, and I think its his time to join the big club. Bring him up and put him on the top 6 and see what happens. Saves us money and will only cost 0.833M against the cap.

Then on defense, I try my hardest to bring Hamhuis here. He won't be cheap, but I think he can be had for 3.3M. We would still be slightly under the cap, giving us room for some more moves

The first is trade Godard. He isn't going to crack this line-up on a regular basis and will probably be a waste of a spot. Trading him leaves us with about 4.204M of cap space.

Needing 1 foreward now, we should look at a guy like Maxim Afinoginov. 0.8M last year and will probably get a raise, and I give him 2M per year. Then I lure Selanne here for one last season to make a run at the cup. He can still play and I say give him 2M as well.

Thats leaves us with 0.204M under the salary cap, but we would probably send Letestu down and save 0.5M against the cap and even though we would be tight against the cap, its a pretty solid line-up: Kunitz-Crosby-Selanne Tangradi-Malkin-Afinoginov Cooke-Staal-Dupuis Kennedy-Adams-Rupp Talbot-Letestu Letang-Orpik Goligoski-Hamhuis Leopold-Eaton Fleury Johnson

Thats a pretty solid line-up, got a solid top 6 and we have depth. I think this is a cup competing team and better than what we finished with this year.

In about 24 hours from now, the Pittsburgh Penguins will open their season against divsion rival the New York Rangers. This is the game the Penguins will be raising their Stanley Cup banner, but right after that it is time to put last year in the past and time for these 10 questions to be answered:

1. Will the Penguins suffer from a Stanley Cup hangover?

I am not a big believer in Stanley Cup hangovers. Yeah there have been signs of it in the past, but how this team is built I don't let see the coaches and captains letting that happen. They are hungrier than ever after getting that first taste of winning it and won't slow down because they are satisfied in getting it last year or tired.

Since we have learned that Maxime Talbot had shoulder surgery over the summer and is going to miss the first couple of months of the season, this has been a big question. The leading cantidates right now are Tyler Kennedy (who was on the line during training camp/preseason) and Pascal Dupuis (who is going to start the season on this line). Then we have a couple of guys down in the minors in Eric Tangradi (top prospect) and Luca Caputi (#2 winger prospect). Then there is Chris Bourque, who the Penguins claimed off of waivers from the Washington Capitals.

Of the five players listed above, I think Kennedy has the best shot at taking the spot. He is a player just like Max Talbot, plays hard every shift, decent shot, good speed, helps create space for the other 2. He has the potential to be a 20-25 goal scorer and putting him with Malkin could be a great fit.

Dupuis, like I said earlier, is starting on this line. I don't think this is gonna stick though. He has horrible hands and not a very accurate shot. He is a 3rd-4th liner that has good speed and plays good defense.

Tangradi is gonna be the winger for either Crosby or Malkin for years to come and looked really good in the preseason, but he needs a year in the AHL before making the jump to the NHL. This is his first year of professional hockey after spending the last few years in the OHL. He is gonna be an absolute stud someday, just not right away.

Caputi is a good power foreward that isn't the best skater. He has the potential to be a 20-25 goal scorer and is gonna end up a decent 2nd liner playing with whoever Tangradi is not. After watching him in the preseason, he needs to spend a little more time in the NHL before making the jump into the NHL.

Chris Bourque is an interesting player. I do not no much about him, but he was a point per game player last year in the AHL and has never really got a shot at the NHL. He is a small guy listed at 5'8" and I have read that he is a high energy guy, like a Kennedy or Talbot. He will be staying with the team (because we can't send him down after claiming him off waivers) and could be the darkhorse for the position on the second line.

Fleury has been bitten by the injury bug the last 2 years. Even though he played in 62 games last year, he missed 12 games with a "lower body injury" last season and 27 games the year before with a high ankle sprain. Injuries are probably the most unpredictable thing in sports so its hard to say if he will, but I think this is the year he stays healthy and shows why he should be on the olympic team.

The Penguins have not had the best of luck with vetaran wingers in the past few years. First it was John LeClair who we signed to play with the rookie Crosby, and it worked well the first year. He scored 22 goals and 51 points, but was nothing special. The next yera he scored 2 goals and 7 points in 21 games before being placed on waivers.

Then came Mark Recchi for his 3rd stint with the team. He had a very good first season scoring 24 points and 68 points, but the next year he scored 2 goals and 6 assists in 19 games. He was better last year scoring 61 points, but that wasn't for the Penguins.

Now we have Bill Guerin, who scored 12 goals and 27 points for the Penguins in 41 games. Now that he is a year older and the fact that we play such a fast paced system might mean he could have similar fates that Recchi and LeClair had. I don't see it happening and could see him ending up a lot more like Gary Roberts (who was not a great player for us, but great tough leader that was a fan favorite).

5. Will Jordan Staal take his game up another level and show why he was a first round pick?

Jordan Staal has been one of the best penalty killers in the league the past few years and had his best point-total season last year, but still has a lot of room to improve. He wiffs on a lot of shots and isn't as consistant as you would like him to be in the offensive zone. Him, Matt Cooke, and Tyler Kennedy was a great line last year and was probably the best third line in the NHL last year and was looking really good in Dan Bylsma's new system. I think if he plays like he did at the end of last year, he will score 30 goals and get 60 points.

There are a lot more questions that are to be answered about the Penguins this year, and you can waste a lot of time debating them but you won't know you are right until the season starts. Some final questions that I am not gonna answer, but feel free to do so in the comments:

What should the Pittsburgh Penguins do in the offseason? As many of you already know, I am a big Penguins fan. I still can't get over the fact that they won the cup, but tonight I wanna think about the offseason coming up. All numbers in this post will go off of a 56M cap, while it is 56.7 now I am just gonna have it go down a bit, just in case it does. Also, I will be starting with a cap hit of 46.9M, which leaves the Penguins with 9.1M left to spend.

Sykora- He has shown he has lost a step, and I think his days in the NHL are done. I expect him to sign in the KHL, maybe with the Mettallurg Magnitogorsk who have been rumored to be interested in him.

Satan- He showed in the playoffs that he can still play, but he is not the goal scorer he once was. He will probably go to the KHL as well.

Boucher- We have a lot of defensman, and he is very expendable.

Hal Gill- With Lovejoy and Goligoski becoming NHL ready, and with Gill getting slower by the game I think it is best to let him go.

Garon- He was decent as the back-up in the 1 1/2 games he played for the Penguins, but I think Curry should be the back-up next season.

With the remaining free agents, I would do the following:

Guerin- Watching him since we won the cup, no doubt he is gonna come back. He is having so much fun, and during the parade there was a 1 more year chant for him. Then while Malkin was talking he said "one more year for Guerin" then he said "no, 2 more years for Billy" and Guerin comes up from behind, taps him on the shoulder and gives him a thumbs up. I think he stays for 2 years/4M. Leaving the Penguins with 7.1M to spend.

Fedotenko- He showed how good he can be in the playoffs, so I think he should get around a 2 year/4M contract like Guerin leaving the Penguins with 5.1M.

Zigomanis- His face-off ability is amazing. Great 4th line center to have. Give him around 700K for a year or 2. 4.4M left.

Adams- He is a great 4th line player. He has grit, defensive ability, and is something every team needs. He should get similar money to Zigomanis, probably around 750K. 3.65M left.

Scuderi- Showed his value in the playoffs. Great deffensively, 3 years 7.5M total. 1.15 left

Along with those 10 UFA's, the Penguins have a few RFA's. The bigger ones being Alex Goligoski, Ben Lovejoy and John Curry. All 3 of these guys could be on the roster next year.

Goligoski*- Amazing offensive talent, but a little weak on defense at times. Deserves a raise, probably around 1.5M. .-.35M left

Lovejoy- Amazing defensive player, was a +40 or something crazy like that in WBS. Probably deserves 900K for now. -1.25 left.

Curry- Future back-up for this team, but doesn't deserve much of a raise from what he is making now. Worth 600K. -1.85M left.

With all that done, yes they would be over the cap but I have more moves to come. Projected line-up so far: Forwards- Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin Fedotenko-Malkin-Talbot Cooke-Staal-Kennedy Adams-Zigomanis-Dupuis Godard Defense- Gonchar-Orpik Letang-Eaton Goligoski-Scuderi Lovejoy Goalies- Fleury Curry

That is before free agency, in which I feel the Penguins will need to add a veteran defensman and maybe another player or 2. Free agency moves I would make:

The last thing I think this team should look into is getting another top-6 foreward. The only way they would be able to do that is to trade Jordan Staal, which I would rather them not do unless they get an offer they cannot refuse for a guy like Rick Nash (which there is no chance of that is all).

So the line-up above would be my final roster. Thoughts? What would you do if you were the Penguins?

*Note: I changed Goligoski from 1.1M/year to 1.5M/year because he just signed a 3 year/4.5M total deal. Not much of a difference, but since it was signed today I decided to change it.

When the Penguins first signed Janne Pesonen this offseason, I was excited about what he has the potential to do. This excitement grew as I saw clips of him on youtube and saw how he was performing in Wilkes/Barre.

In his first game I saw he was going to play the game on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora. I had high hopes that he could show why we signed him that game. He never got the chance. He played maybe 2 shifts with Geno, and was quickly taken off the line. He played just under 10 minutes.

Then he just got called up again a few days ago, and saw he was going to play with Malkin again. I had my doubts about how long he was going to be with Malkin, and they were right. He barely played with Malkin. He didn't even get much ice time, only 6 minutes! If Pesonen is eventually gonna be a top 6 winger for us, why is he not getting any time to get used to the game in the NHL?

This is to you, Therrien. If your going to play Janne, give him some playing time! He is a highly talented player and should not wasted like he was last night.